Theory U Toolbook 1.1
Sensing Journeys
for regular updates:
www.presencing.com
Sensing Journeys
At a Glance
Sensing Journeys are a way of experiencing the
system through the lens of different
stakeholders. Together with other users of the
system, participants will undertake small
journeys to different places in that system.
These Learning Journeys allow participants to:
• move into unfamiliar environments;
• immerse themselves in different contexts;
• step into relevant experiences
Sensing Journeys:
1. Purpose & Outcome
1. Purpose & Outcomes
Purpose
To engage stakeholders of a system in a series of
immersion, listening, inquiry, and dialogue activities
that create:
• a network of relationships among key stakeholders
in that system
• a shared understanding of the systemic forces at
play
• input for prototype ideas that could catalyze
profound change
Outcomes
• Increased awareness of the different aspects of a
system and their relationships.
• Enhanced awareness of the different perspectives
of the stakeholders and participants in the system.
• Connections between stakeholders and
participants
Sensing Journeys:
2. Logistics
2. Logistics
The group splits up into sub-teams of 5 or so participants.
The group composition matters because the impact of the
sensing journeys is enhanced by a mix of perspectives.
People & Place
Define places of high potential for the sensing journeys:
the whole group of participants should go to several places
that can provide insights into:
-the different perspectives of the system’s key stakeholders
-the different aspects of that system
-the ‘voiceless’: people in the system, those who usually
are not heard or seen.
-A good way to get a sense of the system is to look at its
“extreme users”: those with special requirements, such as a
person living in a remote area needing access to a health
system.
Sensing Journeys:
2. Logistics (ctd.)
Time
The length of a sensing journey depends on the
size of the geographic area being covered. It is
recommended to allocate at least 1 day (or so) to
sensing journeys in a workshop context and
several days or weeks (sometimes spread over a
period of months) in a larger project setting.
If the hosts agree, it is advised to take pictures
and/or videos during the journey. These can be
useful during reviews with the other groups and
as a reminder for the participants.
Materials
Other materials may be collected as well, after
seeking permission from the hosts.
A pen and journal are required for taking notes
during and after the journey.
Sensing Journeys:
3. Process
3. Process
Preparation:
Step 1
Establish common ground by discussing with your group
members:
- What is the context you are going into?
- Who are the key players that you need to talk with?
- What are the questions are you most interested in exploring?
- Share your most eye-opening sensing experience to date
Start by developing a short questionnaire (7-10 questions) that
guides your inquiry process. Keep updating your questionnaire
as your inquiry process unfolds.
Communicate the intention of the exercise with the hosts.
Request that they give the group some insight into their
”normal” daily operations, rather than a staged presentation.
Try to avoid “show and tell” situations.
Sensing Journeys:
3. Process
3. Process
(cont.)
Small groups travel to the host’s location.
Step 2
While at the site:
Trust your intuition and ask authentic questions.
Pay attention to and trust you intuition in asking
questions raised by the conversation. Asking simple and
authentic questions is an important leverage point in
shifting or refocusing the attention on some of the deeper
and systemic forces at play.
Use deep listening as a tool to hold the space of
conversation. One of the most powerful intervention by
a listener is deeply attentive silence. When your
interviewee has finished responding to one of your
questions, don’t jump in automatically with the next
question. Attend to what is emerging from the now.
Sensing Journeys:
3. Proc (cont.)
(cont.
3. Process
Example of questions to ask the visit:
Step 2 (cont.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What personal experience or journey brought you here?
What issues or challenges are you confronted with?
Why do these challenges exist?
What challenges exist in the larger system?
What are the blockages?
What are your most important sources of success and
change?
7. What would a better system look like for you?
8. What initiative, if implemented would have the greatest
impact for you? And for the system as a whole?
9. If you could change just a couple of elements what would
you change?
10. Who else do we need to talk to?
Sensing Journeys:
3. Process (cont.)
After the visit: Reflect and debrief
Step 3
To capture and leverage the findings of your inquiry
process, conduct a disciplined debriefing process after
each visit right after each visit. Don’t switch on cell phones
until the debriefing is complete.
Sensing Journeys:
3. Process (cont.)
Here are a few sample questions for the debriefing:
Step 3 (cont.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
What struck me most? What stood out?
What was most surprising or unexpected?
What touched me? What connected with me personally?
If the social field (or the living system) of the visited
organization or community were a living being, what
would it look and feel like?
If that being could talk: what would it say (to us)?
If that being could develop—what would it want to
morph into next?
What is the generative source that allows this social field
to develop and thrive?
What limiting factors prevent this field/system from
developing further?
Moving in and out of this field, what did you notice about
yourself?
What ideas does this experience spark for possible
prototyping initiatives that you may want to take on?
Sensing Journeys:
3. Process (cont.)
Close the feedback loop with you hosts:
Step 4
Send an email (or other follow-up note) expressing a key
insight you took away from the meeting (one or two
sentences), and your appreciation.
Debrief as a whole group
Step 5
After a one-day learning journey this debriefing would take
place in next meeting with the whole group.
In the case of a multi-days learning journey you plan to meet
between the individual days if logistics allow.
Structure of the whole group debrief meeting
1. Get everyone on the same page by sharing concrete
information about the Journeys: Where did you go, who did
you talk to, what did you do?
2.Talk about your findings and generate new ideas.
Sensing Journeys:
4. Principles)
4. Principles
A deep-dive sensing journey requires engaging in three
types of listening:
•
Listening to others: to what the people you
meet are offering to you
•
Listening to yourself: to what you feel
emerging from within
•
Listening to the emerging whole: to what
emerges from the collective and community
Principles
settings that you have connected with.
Go to the places of most potential. Meet your
interviewees in their context: in their workplace or where
they live, not in a hotel or conference room. When you
meet people in their own context you learn a lot by
simply observing what is going on. Take whatever your
observe as a starting point to improvise questions that
allow you to learn more about the real-life context of
your interviewee.
Sensing Journeys:
4. Principles (cont.)
Observe, observe, observe: Suspend your voices of
judgment (VOJ) and cynicism (VOC) and connect with
your sense of appreciation and wonder.
Principles
Without the capacity to suspend judgment and cynicism,
all efforts to conduct an effective inquiry process will be in
vain. Suspending your VOJ means shutting down the
habit of judging and opening up a new space of
exploration, inquiry, and wonder.
Use the power level 3 and 4 conversations (dialogue
and presencing--see next slide).
FieldStructure
Of Attention
Field
1
Downloading:
Talking nice
I-in-me
2
Debate:
Talking tough
I-in-it
3
Dialogue:
Reflective inquiry
I-in-you
4
Presencing:
Generative flow
I-in-now
Speaking from what they want to hear
Polite routines, empty phrases
Autistic system (not saying what you think)
Speaking from what I think
Divergent views: I am my point of view
Adaptive system (say what you think)
Speaking from seeing myself as part of the whole
From defending to inquiry into viewpoints
Self-reflective system (reflect on your part)
Speaking from what is moving through
Stilness, collective creativity, flow
Generative system (identity shift: authentic self)
Sensing Journeys:
5.
Sources
5. Sources
Sources
O. Scharmer, Theory U: Chapter 21.
Free download:
http://www.theoryu.com/documents/TU-ch21.pdf
http://www.presencing.com
Sensing Journeys:
6. Example
Example
An automobile manufacturing firm’s product development
team decides to use Sensing Journeys to broaden their
thinking and to generate new ideas. Their task is to build
the self-repair capacity of their cars’ engines. The team
visits a broad selection of other companies, research
centers, and even experts in traditional Chinese medicine
(TCM). As it turned out, the visits with TCM experts
generated the most innovative ideas for this project
(including the idea to design self-repair functions for the
“dream state” of the car--that is, for those periods when
the car is not in use).